Now that “Wanderlust” is out in the marketplace, the key question seems to be not whether or not the critics like it (they did; barely), but whether or not Jennifer Aniston exercised a bit of last-minute creative control.

Specifically, did she have her topless scene removed?

Lots of reports, including this one from CBS, suggest that that’s what happened — that Aniston had one version of a certain scene showing her topless in front of TV cameras (her character is rallying support for the Elysium commune, which is being threatened by developers) replaced with another shot of, uh, dorsal nudity.

The report suggested she did this out of respect for boyfriend Justin Theroux (who plays the commune’s incredibly hairy, charismatic, guitar-playing leader). They met on the set two years ago but didn’t become a couple until after filming was done.

Studio reps and Aniston’s reps dispute this account, and CBS’ Scott Edwards suggests this could all be a publicity stunt. We’ll see.

Anyway, “Wanderlust” has a 61 Tomatometer rating as of this morning — just barely in Fresh territory (the cutoff between Fresh and Rotten is 60) based on 56 reviews. The mainstream critics are split almost right down the middle.

One of the most colorful accounts comes from the Toronto Globe and Mail’s Rick Groen, who confronts that OTHER nudity issue head on (so to speak) — the whole fake wiener thing. He writes:

“… As far your humble correspondent knows, ‘Wanderlust’ is the first mainstream movie ever to star a Floppy Prosthetic Penis. Since the star is attached to a nudist named Wayne, no one could possibly claim that the Floppy Prosthetic Penis is gratuitous or prurient or otherwise salacious.”

He goes on to say that it’s not very funny, either. He also references the Aniston edit, saying she should have exercised her clout on other scenes that didn’t work.

(In a related note, Floppy Prosthetic Penis is playing the White Rabbit tonight on a bill with Slick Dickens).

On the flip side, the L.A. Times’ Betsy Sharkey called it a guilty pleasure that should have been rated RR (really raunchy). And she disagrees with Groen, saying the commune’s most visible nudist (played by Jo Lo Truglio) “ultimately gets the laughs by making Wayne seem so altogether comfortable with his complete northern exposure.”

Anyway, all this should serve as a consumer warning to folks expecting a typical PG-13 Aniston comedy like last year’s “Just Go With It.” The trailers downplay the naked factor — even the redband trailer seems a bit tame. But the ‘A’ name to remember is not Aniston, but Apatow.

Either way, will folks turn out in droves to see “Wanderlust” this weekend? Analyst Ray Subers of BoxOfficeMojo.com doesn’t think so. Noting that the studio, Universal, doesn’t seem to know what to do with the movie (the release date was delayed from October), he added:

” Unfortunately, while Aniston is coming off of two $100 million movies, she’s also recently starred in duds like ‘The Switch’ and ‘Love Happens,’ which debuted to $8.4 million and $8.1 million, respectively. Based on current tracking, Universal is expecting an opening of less than $10 million. ”

Yikes! Less than $10 million? That’s not good. Maybe Aniston should have reconsidered that edit.